i fear operation

I obtained my CI 4 years ago -- as it was my first ever major surgery in my entire life...sure, I was full of nervous butterflies when the day came for me to go into surgery. I do remember being wheeled in a wheelchair (hospital policy) to the room just before the surgery theatre room and moved to the operating bed which was wheeled from the prep room to theatre. In the prep room, I was prepped -- got an I.V. inserted in my left hand for the anthesthia (spelling, eeh) and my doctor who was going to do the surgery on me, came in to say hello and have a little friendly banter and explain a bit of what was going to happen in there, etc. Mr Pyman was quite nice to help ease my anxiety and relax a bit.
I remember lying down on the bed and the anthesthican informed me beforehand that the liquid being injected through the IV would be cold, but just to relax and slowly count backwards from 10 to 1. Despite counting backwards, I didn't fall asleep straight away as I was curious what the surgery theatre looked like, so I was struggling to stay awake until I was in the other room! :giggle: By the time I was rolled in and I saw this black/green monitor on my left which was for monitoring my heartbeat, I reckon. That was the last thing I remember seeing and seeing Mr Pyman with half his face covered by surgical mask and he was waving at me and his eyes twinkling jovially.
I woke up roughly 4 hours after the surgery and of course, there was pain around the surgery area on my right side of head and I requested for a painkiller to kill the pain. My hubby was sitting right next to me and handed me a small stuffed enchida (similar animal to porcupine), then I fell back to sleep for, I think, a few minutes before I awoke again. I knew I woke up for some reason and sat up asking hubby what was going on. He said that a nurse was behind me, about to administer a shot of painkiller right into my bloody ARSE!!! No way...since I really HATE needles and have never had one taken in the arse...I quickly turned and told the nurse off. "No thank you, I'll live with the pain thank you! Bye!" :rofl:
 
I only went through one surgery in my entire life. It was when they had to operate on my damaged finger to see if it could be fixed. The gave me sleeping gas and I passed out quickly.
 
e said:
Malfoyish-
LOL thanks for replying! yeah youre right, after getting blood tests ill probably get sort of used to it. and that makes sense, ill talk to my future surgeon to put me sleep before heading to operation room. i know its probably gonna be just simple and quick operation while im asleeping. i need to reduce my fear and able to let myself go through this thing without freaking out. whew, when you described about things in the operation room you already gave me a butterfly in stomach! lol thats something i dont often think about.
im wondering which hospital did you went for operation? manhattan? most of people i know from around here went to manhattan's eye ear and throat hospital or ny eye & ear infirmary. so i thought i should try visit one of clinics there.
about anesthesia, did your doctor gave you options to get inhalation or injection? im hoping they'll be able to give gas instead injection! ;)
and lastly, i'd love to meet you again. hopefully, you'll remember me lol. thanks again.
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I am sure you will get anesthesia injected into IV tube. you will get IV and anesthesia before you get wheeled into surgery room anyway. You will be knocked out by the time they are done transferring you to the table from bed and get oxygen mask... poof.... you will not have REM for the duration of operation till anesthesia wear off. by the time anesthesia wear off, you will start having REM and actually SLEEP and may have a normal dream like you have before till you realize you are in hospital and may feel groggy as if you didn't have enough sleep because of commotion in the recovery room such as blood pressure check.. oh yeah you will feel your arm being squeezed as if someone is trying to wake you up rudely LOL

Anyway, you will have a pre-op appt. which you will have a blood test and meet with a anesthesia person who will go over with you about anesthesia with some questions. fairly routine like with any other operations of different nature. that will be like 1 week before the op date.

your first step is to find a surgeon that you are comfortable with (out of few locations) then go thru insurance steps then see audie for CI evaluation. Also be prepared to decide which device you want... each company's website has step by step for candidacy qualifications. so visit their websites.
 
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Helloooo E!

Good to see you posting here again.... :cheers:

I can share the fears you have about seeing blood and having an operation....I can't stand the sight of blood, not even a little bit... Yikes!.....I had operations before and I was terrified and seeing all the medical tools laying nearby, sure didn't help calm me down, the nurses kept having to calm me down....I sure don't blame you for feeling this way E...but I am sure when you have someone close to you like Alex to help you though this by being caring and supportive to deal with those fears ....You could check to see if they ( the hospital ) will allow Alex to be by you until it's time for you to have the anesthesia ( to make you sleep ).... ;)

I would be happy for you to be considering to have a CI if you believe that this will definitely improve your hearing and not have to struggle anymore with comprehending sounds or understanding when others speak to you....And if you decide to go through this procedure, I do hope the very best for you and that this CI operation will be a complete success without any implications or difficulties!!....

Good Luck E! :mrgreen:
 
deafdyke said:
I had gas back in '89 when I had foot surgery....they do still have gas (and use it at reputable hoispitals) they even have flavored gas too! (I remember this from back in '96 when I had my ear surgery)
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Oh boy...I had gas a couple of times, and man, i get sooo sick afterwards so no more!!!..i told them that so they said we will give you something else instead of gas (whew)..so the last time i had the surgery, they didnt give me gas and i woke up fine without any throwing up!!..so really, i hate gas!
 
my fear of being in operation. not before nor after, i meant during in the operation room. im VERY senstive about seeing a drop of blood, or extremely senstive about getting blood test/being cutted up open. because ive never had that before. i know im probably making a couple of hours worth in operation sounded big deal to me. seriously, im so senstive about that!
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How could you deal with baby birth ? :) As for the baby birth was very beautiful experience for me. Of course, I dislike to feel extremely pain during the labor and bloody.

That is why, I do not go for cochlear implant to drill on my skull head. No Thanks !! I am very happy to be Deaf ! :deaf:

It is up to you to make the decision. You can ask Meg who just had her cochlear implant few weeks ago. She dislike the operation either. She was courageous to get CI.
 
hey all,

thank you all for wonderful supports. im really glad you guys shared your experiences here. it was very informative!

malfoyish, about the info on your doc, sure i'd love to find out.

ideafspy, i have empire blue cross and i cant believe it rejected you! i checked the info on empire's website, they'll cover surgery and possibly speech therapy if you meet their requirements. i emailed them to get more details.

sabrina, i know about drilling through skull sounded SCARY. that was my very first impression i didnt want c.i. it took me some years to reconsider and hearing more positive things about c.i. of course, im proud of being deaf, c.i. isnt gonna make me hearing. im gonna use c.i. as my better hearing aides. ;)

im taking one step at a time to c.i. surgery. collecting everyone's information on their experiences with c.i., insurance info, clinic, doctors, etc. it'll probably takes time because i dont really want to rush myself into this.
im gonna have a lot of questions about c.i.

one question: are there some things that you cannot do or avoid because it could damage your c.i.?
 
one question: are there some things that you cannot do or avoid because it could damage your c.i.?
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Treat it as you would with a hearing aid
 
E,

Since you have Blue Cross, they tend to pay 80 percent and you are responible 20 percent. So you can figure that price, you can ask malfoyish about cost. Since you two are nearby the state each other. Each state price is different for cochlear implant and not know why but assume it base on the hopsital price. Just a friendly reminder, is your blue cross under your parent from work or yourself as indiviaul. If you are on your own, my advise to talk with blue cross before you do anything. I made mistake and went up the price. Ugh.. barely paid off.. whew.. umm they will send to you the statment to know what cause you becoming deaf and etc. They might cost you more for monthly increasing. Other than that statement letter, just wait until you reciving letter or contact that is approved and get confirm numbers. My suggust you using the ip-relay.com or your prefer to using relay online to proof print on paper. It just blahhing for me to share but felt must important to share and prevent that happen for other. My family kind of against Blue Cross because of what happen to me. None of my friend have Blue Cross on their own but from the work. If you want information.. Here the list for who using indiviual plan (not from work's insurance) for you or someone.

1. Are you current on Pre-Existing (mean when you signed the application to get health card and wait for one year before you get future surgery.)

2. After you finish with pre-existing or current Group coverage for CI and the agent for each company should be able to put you in contact with someone to confirm coverage for you . It is important that check specific procedure codes to
confirm that CI is covered.. The surgerical code is 69930, Device: L8614
and the aftercare is 92510 (Usually 10-12 visits will be needed). Let the insurance rep know that you want to confirm specific coverage for these codes.

3. Start visiting the doctor, for Oklahoma that I have to wait for one month appointment per visit. Isn't that suck? I do not know about your place live in New York cuz I never been there. ;)

4. Once you hand to the Cochlear Implant office or whatever the state named for cochlear implant office to becoming something. They will tell you how much you will need to pay. Remember; if it costs thousands dollar and you can pay monthly with hopsital (in various state do and some don't).

I guess that enough for me advise from my mistake with Blue Loser.
 
ideafspy and e,

you may want to check this out:

http://www.cochlear.org/sys-tmpl/door/ it has all info and etc for cochlear benefit and guide whatever... (no, the url is not Cochlear Inc.'s other website, it belong to "OTOLOGIC REIMBURSEMENT MANAGEMENT" )
 
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